In an increasingly networked world, more and more traffic, such as data, voice, and video, is transmitted over public and proprietary networks. Wireless networks, in particular, are becoming increasingly popular as networks through which subscribers obtain both voice services (e.g., telephone calls) and data services (e.g., email and video/audio streaming). Streaming video services, in particular, may be provided through a wireless network.
When providing content, such as video, over the wireless network, it may be important to intelligently deliver the content to the mobile devices to limit strain on the wireless network. One known technique for streaming audio/video is known as multicast, in which a single channel may be used to broadcast content to multiple mobile devices. In contrast, with a unicast transmission, video streams transmitted to multiple mobile devices may require multiple channels that are each dedicated to a single mobile device.
A multicast system may include a number of multicast channels that are broadcast, over a radio interface, to interested mobile devices. For example, content providers may make available video streams, such as streams of live events, that may be transmitted as a multicast transmission. Multicast may be particularly useful for streaming video of live events or scheduled broadcasts, in which a relatively large number of users may be interested in viewing the video stream at the time the stream is broadcast using multicast.